A declaration stressing cooperation between Chinese and African women in addressing challenges of economic crisis and gender equality in political life was passed Wednesday when China-Africa Women's Forum 2009 closed Wednesday in Cairo.

Under the theme of "Chinese and African women working together to address challenges and seek common development," about 110 representatives from 28 African states and China discussed three topics, including women's role in promoting Sino-African political and social dialogues, cooperation in response to the current global economic crisis, and women affairs in the Millennium Development Goals, and reached consensus on many issues.

As a part of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, the Chinese- African Women's Forum is sponsored by the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) and Egyptian National council for Women with the aim of enhancing the role of women in consolidating the Sino- African ties and the cooperation between the two continents of Asia and Africa.

The final declaration recommends that special measures should be implemented to create a favorable environment where women can be better engaged in political life, while providing them with more leadership training, to gradually narrow the gender gap in political participation.

In response to the financial crisis, the declaration states that governments should give full consideration to the interests of both men and women with regard to developing economic recovery plans, and avoid the risk of aggravating the gender gap and gender inequality by applying a gender perspective.

The forum decided to submit the final declaration to the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, with the expectation that the voices of women can be fully listened to.

The friendship between China and Africa can be traced back to ancient times, and a new era for Sino-African ties was ushered in 1956 when Egypt formerly recognized and officially established diplomatic ties with the young People's Republic of China.